BLAUGI Blog of AUGI

BiLT ANZ, the biggest ever!

My journey to BiLT ANZ 2018 began with an unexpected email from AUGI: Would you consider doing some blogging for AUGI? Yes!

I have attended a couple of the predecessor Revit Technology Conferences (RTC), in New Zealand, but this is my first BiLT. The 2017 name change really acknowledged RTC’s already broadening approach to BIM and its future intentions. What started out as a platform focused conference now embraces the reality of BIM being a multi-platform, multi-discipline, and multiple industry activity. Like RTC, BiLT is a valuable forum “Bringing industry Leadership Together” in a platform neutral industry focused event. While Revit is still prominent there are sessions on many other BIM related workflows, applications and platforms.

Although I have been to Australia before this is also my first visit to Brisbane. Surprising it has taken this long given many Kiwis (including me!) have family connections here due to emigration over the past couple of decades. At one stage it seemed just about everyone in Auckland was ‘moving to Brissie’, attracted by higher pay and tropical weather, but more recently the trans-Tasman people flow has balanced out. Leaving Auckland on a gloomy, wet and cold (for NZ) morning to arrive, three hours later, in sunny warm Brisbane certainly made a good first impression!

The Royal International Convention Centre (the BiLT venue) is in Bowen Hills, a newly regenerating mixed-use area a few kilometres from the Brisbane CBD. The three-day BiLT schedule kicks off with a plenary session comprising of brief sponsor addresses and a keynote with a more general design focus on the first morning. The rest of the day, and following days, offer a wide variety of parallel streamed 75-minute sessions. Formats include presentations, forums, and hands on labs. Deciding which to attend is a challenge and it becomes apparent why larger organisations send multiple attendees to cover the impressive line-up.

A sample of the sessions I’ve chosen give a flavour of the diversity of subjects on offer and the creativity in session naming:

• The Gospel of the Good LOD According to Kev
• A Guided Tour of Cutting Edge Creek with Some BIM Geeks
• Implementing Revit for Interior Design Teams
• Analog Lab: UX Design for Revit Families Using Empathy, Prototyping, and Testing
• Advance Your Digital Agenda Through Persuasion and Influence
• Improving Productivity and Asset Outcomes Through the Consistent Adoption of BIM
• Why BIM Costs Money – A View from a Quantity Surveyor
• Chameleon Yoga BIM - Flexible Digital Collaboration

Between sessions you can meet attendees, speakers, sponsors and vendors in the Exhibition space. It offers lots of opportunities for networking, satisfying the tea/coffee habit and refuelling. There are also several more formal evening social events including a first day Welcome Function, Golf themed (?) evening function on Friday and a special closing event (party!) on Saturday evening. It is at the Brisbane City Hall and hosted by keynote speaker Ashraf Habibullah.

It is the networking that makes attending an event like this worthwhile. That literally started on the flight from New Zealand with a bunch of familiar faces in the boarding lounge and sitting next to a BiLT ANZ sponsor travelling from the US via NZ. Given the wide variety of people it has attracted, ~500 attendees make it the biggest ever, there will be lots of new people to meet.

I’ll be following up with mid-event and summary posts, but you can also follow BiLT ANZ activity on social media; look for the #BILTANZ tag and follow @BiLTevent on Twitter.

BiLT ANZ 2018 Event Website: www.rtcevents.com/bilt/anz18/

AUGI User Groups - The Recent Updates

AUGI has been working on a new Local User Group listing system and recently unveiled the newest features.

Local User Groups (LUGs) are a collection of Autodesk product users that have face to face gatherings and usually focus on one industry or product suite. They meet to discuss and exchange ideas, provide input to their members, share tips and offer advice to new users and experienced pros. AUGI has always been a huge supporter of Local User Groups formation and operations. These groups, which are self-governed, have partnered with AUGI to encourage users to join their specific group and often extend an open invitation to become an AUGI member as well.

We now offer search features for our extensive list of User Groups. Now you can find one in your area with ease. By using the search feature you can limit the search to your state or area, then thin it down by product focus or industry. This quick and easy filtering is interactive as it filters the list real-time. It has never been easier to find a user group in your area.

We also now have expanded listing information for Affiliate LUG's.

Affiliated LUGs are those groups that have chosen to mimic AUGI in structure, purpose and function.  They embrace the “Member First” mode of providing what their members need. They embrace the “self-governed” mode of leadership in that fellow members manage them. Resellers are encouraged to participate at every level but the leaders of the group are everyday users, not reseller staff. Lastly, they promote AUGI within their meetings and to their membership. Becoming an Affiliated AUGI LUG is an option for groups that want to be listed as such with AUGI, but it is not required.

Check out the new pages today.

 

Submit your nominations to join the AUGI Board of Directors

Now accepting nominations for the 2009/2010 AUGI Board of Directors! Do you want to make a difference in the future of AUGI? Click here to learn more about the nominations process and how to submit your nomination. Nominate yourself or others. It is easy! Hurry, nominations close at midnight on May 24th, 2009.

AUGI Local Chapter Calendar

If you want to get together face-to-face with other users, AUGI makes it easy and there are many places to connect.  AUGI Local Chapters are a great place to meet others who are struggling with the same issues you might be.  The calendar below is just a snapshot of some of the many local meetings that might be happening in your area.

Check out the Local Chapter calendar.  Then click on a listed meeting to get details.

Letter to all Local Chapter Presidents

Below information kindly supplied by Bill Adams ( AUGI BoD member - Secretary and LUG Manager ).

G’day Local Chapter Presidents

Well doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun? At last years’ AU LUG Presidents meeting it was reported that exciting times are on the horizon and a lot of great things and changes are happening for the LUG’s.

Well, finally after many months of hard work, things are beginning to come to fruition.

One of the many changes is a name change. Hence forth LUG’s will be known as Local Chapters, and with this in mind a new Local Chapter Handbook has been developed and will be available shortly.

However, the most exciting change / new development is that of the LUG Portal which is a new database portal which will allow Local Chapter Presidents access to many tools that will benefit their groups and users alike.

These benefits include:

• Access to a newsletter creation tool complete with pre-written content.
• Access to dynamic website creation tools complete with dynamically loaded content available to keep your site fresh.
• The same AUGI Local User Group benefits and all new content.
• Presidents would have access to tools to help them plan an agenda, find exciting topics and scripted presentations and ultimately run a better meeting.
• Access to a speakers’ bureau that is rapidly filling with available speakers ready and willing to speak to your users.
• Potential financial support, where possible, AUGI stands ready to assist in connecting your group to resellers eager to assist and provide monetary and other resources.
• The usual selection of NFR software.

In order to access these benefits, we request that all members of the Local Chapter, join AUGI as members. We can appreciate however, that many of your members may not already be AUGI members, so we strongly encourage you to get your members to join AUGI, after all membership is free and everyone, especially your user group (Local chapter) benefits!

We realize, of course, that this will not happen overnight; therefore we are working on a plan to offer a 6 month trial run including a 6 month “window” for connection into the LUG portal system. Another change you should be made aware of is our recommendation regarding the structure of the Official Local Chapter - it is AUGI’s preferred position that resellers should not be a part of the local leadership team, (i.e. President, Vice President, Secretary or Treasurer Positions) for the local group. We wish to ensure that each group is based on the “User helping User” philosophy. Once again, we will allow a time period for chapters to re-organize their structure where necessary.

Finally, to quote “Richard Binning, AUGI President” (from Jan 2006 AUGI HotNews) this year will be a year of connecting the dots. We plan to connect to our members in new and exciting ways and provide tools to help them connect to each other as well. We will connect our Local User Groups to each other, our members, and to the greater Organization while providing world class support in ways never dreamed possible. We will also embark on our Country Building program and embrace the first of our AUGI Country Chapters. Finally, we will build the infrastructure and begin rolling out our newly aligned website re-formulated to connect our members by discipline and Industry while still delivering the same AUGI assistance, advice, and fellowship that you have come to expect.

For additional information please go to THIS thread in the Local Chapters - General forum.